I Confess is a 1953 American film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift as Catholic priest Father Michael William Logan, Anne Baxter as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden as Inspector Larrue.

He employs German immigrant married couple Otto and Alma Keller as caretaker and housekeeper, respectively.

The film begins late one evening as a man wearing a cassock walks away from Villette's home with the lawyer dead on the floor inside.

Villette had recently asked Ruth to persuade her husband to help him escape a tax scandal, with the condition that if she refused, he would publicize the night she spent with Logan.

However, when she arrived in Hollywood with her lover, Stig Dagerman, and their baby, Warner Bros. insisted that Hitchcock find another actress for the role.

When the local diocese read the original script by George Tabori, it objected to the priest's execution and rescinded its permission.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times faulted an "obviously padded" and "a suspenseless script," explaining that "only the most credulous patron will be worried for very long that the hero will not be delivered from his dilemma by some saving grace.

Crowther's review concluded that "Mr. Hitchcock does manage to inject little glints of imagery and invent little twists of construction that give the film the smooth, neat glitter of his style.

"[11] Variety wrote that the film was "short of the suspense one would expect and overlong on talk," although it did note "a number of top-flight performances.

So promising an idea as is the use of the confessional in framing a murder case and respectful as the picture appears to be of matters ecclesiastic, the basic conception is false.

The theme is prinked up with murder and romance, but neither, as represented here, makes for suspense or entertainment ... it is possible that Montgomery Clift, who plays the part, was ill-advised to portray the priest as a sort of bemused juvenile, plainly too abstracted to lead one lamb, let alone a flock.

The final chase through the huge Chateau Frontenac seems a touch that Hitchcock could not resist: out of keeping with the generally somber tone of the film, it provides a showily melodramatic climax.

The unresolved split between the straightforward thriller technique and the more penetrating psychological study of character, indeed, makes itself felt as a weakness at intervals throughout the film.

"[15] The Chicago Tribune also was mixed, declaring that "While it has scenery and carefully allotted bits of tension, the film is crowded and devious plot-wise and doesn't rank with Director Hitchcock's previous bests.

"[16] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote one of the positive reviews, and declared that Hitchcock "has fashioned an absorbing screen drama, one of the solidest and most expertly made of recent weeks.

In his careful treatment Hitchcock has gone deeper into human relationships than is usual with him, relying less on the physical chase or on theatrical props like trains and merry-go-rounds than on the interplay of faith and doubt to create his famous brand of suspense.

"[17] Harrison's Reports wrote: "Living up to his reputation as a master of the suspense film, Alfred Hitchcock has fashioned a powerful dramatic entertainment in I Confess.